Hurray! I read here that the end of the movie Hannibal is significantly different than the one in the book. I might actually go see it now! I have never been more disappointed in a book - not that I can’t handle unhappy endings. This was just the most grotesque example of characters acting out of character to serve plot that I have ever seen. For once I will be glad to see a movie take a different spin on a book.
That book was OK until the end, which sucked and ruined the whole thing.
The only really good part was the Italian section. You could really tell that that pig Harris blew his huge advance screwing around in Florence for about a year.
Ridley Scott should be OK; Alien and Gladiator were superb.
A pox upon you for not mentioning Blade Runner.
As far as changing the ending, is Thomas Harris on board with it? My guess after reading Hanibal was that after 3 books he didn’t want to write anymore about Lector. If the movie is made sufficiently “general audience friendly” than Harris may face pressure to write yet another book. Anyway, the movie can never match Silence of the Lambs which is one of the all-round best movies made in the last 20 years.
David Mamet wrote the screenplay, too… (Except I understand somebody is reworking it… )
But that gives me 3 definate fave’s working on the same movie…
Ridley Scott, Anthony Perkins, and David Mamet.
Pretty decent replacement for Jodie Foster, too, with Julianne Moore.
I’m pretty stoked about the movie now… except… MUST READ BOOK…
Screeme
Anthony Perkins? From Psycho? Is he going to play the role of a corpse? 
Perhaps you mean Anthony Hopkins?
I didn’t mind the “Hannibal” ending. I wanted to be shocked, and I certainly was, and not just with the ending.
If I want shiny happy fiction, I’ll read something else.
BTW, “Silence” was great, but don’t forget “Manhunter”- a nice piece of work for William Peterson, and a great Lector by Brian Cox.